A trial with the sunflower leafcutter bee Megachile pugnata in Utah, USA, found that females will nest in drilled wooden nest blocks, preferring holes 15 cm deep (Parker & Frohlich 1985). They can be overwintered from November to June or July at 3°C in the laboratory, and emerge after incubation at 30°C. On release in a sunflower field, female bees of the species were recorded foraging and nesting in the field where they were released (released individuals not marked).

A trial with Osmia sanrafaelae, native to the San Rafael Desert, Utah, USA, found that bees were induced to nest in pine wood nest boxes with drilled 9 mm holes inside a 6 ´ 6 ´ 2 m saran cloth cage placed over an alfalfa crop Medicago sativa (Parker 1985). Fifty males and 50 females were introduced to the cage in July, and although mortality in the nests was high (47%) the number of bees surviving to adulthood in the next generation was 4-fold higher than the number originally introduced (exact number not given).